Alexandra Robbins

Alexandra Robbins (born in 1976) is a journalist, lecturer, and author. Her books focus on young adults, education, and modern college life and its aspects that are often overlooked or ignored by college administrators. Three of her five books have been New York Times Best Sellers.

Biography

She graduated from Walt Whitman High School in Bethesda, Maryland in 1994, and summa cum laude from Yale University in 1998. She was editor-in-chief of her high school newspaper, the Black & White.

She has also written for a variety of publications, including Vanity Fair, The New Yorker, The Atlantic Monthly, The Washington Post, USA Today, Cosmopolitan, and Salon.com. Robbins has appeared in the media, such as The Smart Woman Survival Guide, The O'Reilly Factor, 60 Minutes, The Oprah Winfrey Show, Coast To Coast AM, The Today Show, Paula Zahn Now, The View, The Colbert Report, CBS Early Show, and Anderson Cooper 360°, and networks including CNN, NPR, the BBC, MSNBC, CNBC, C-SPAN, and the History Channel.

Bush educational record

Along with author Jane Mayer, she broke the story about President Bush's unimpressive college grades and SATs in The New Yorker.^[1] The article got such media attention that reporters called to interview her and asked what her SAT scores were. She has not made her scores known publicly.^[2] Robbins was a member of Scroll and Key,^[3] one of Yale's secret societies, and has written a book, "Secrets of the Tomb", a social history of societies at Yale, featuring Skull and Bones. The book's 2002 release was timely given the membership of George W. Bush and George H. W. Bush in Bones, and then more so when John Kerry, another member, was the Democratic Party's 2004 presidential nominee.

Robbins was a guest on the satirical program The Colbert Report on August 9 of 2006, during which Colbert challenged claims Robbins makes in The Overachievers, citing some observations of Robbins' own experience, while she countered with observations about systemic problems resulting from a highly competitive system, the cheating that is endemic to competition and problems with standardized testing, arguing that the aforementioned conditions teach misplaced values. A video of this interview is available from Comedy Central.^[4]

Books

• Robbins, Alexandra (2015). The Nurses: A Year of Secrets, Drama, and Miracles with the Heroes of the Hospital. New York: Workman Publishing Company. ISBN 978-0-7611-7171-3. 
• Robbins, Alexandra (2011). The Geeks Shall Inherit the Earth: Popularity, Quirk Theory, and Why Outsiders Thrive After High School. New York: Hyperion. ISBN 1-4013-0202-5. 
• Robbins, Alexandra (2006). The Overachievers: The Secret Lives of Driven Kids. New York: Hyperion. ISBN 1-4013-0201-7. 
• Robbins, Alexandra (2004). Pledged: The Secret Life of Sororities. New York: Hyperion. ISBN 1-4013-0046-4. 
• Robbins, Alexandra (2004). Conquering Your Quarterlife Crisis: Advice from Twentysomethings who Have Been There and Survived. New York: Perigee Book. ISBN 0-399-53038-X. 
• Robbins, Alexandra (2002). Secrets of the Tomb: Skull and Bones, the Ivy League, and the Hidden Paths of Power. Boston: Little, Brown. ISBN 0-316-72091-7. 
• Robbins, Alexandra; Abby Wilner (2001). Quarterlife Crisis: The Unique Challenges of Life in Your Twenties. New York: J.P. Tarcher/Putnam. ISBN 1-58542-106-5. 

References

External links

• Home Page
• Myspace